Road woes continue as JICA work drags

Thiruvananthapuram: Even the best off-roading drives cannot parallel the journey through Thakaraparambu-Sreevarahom road. Around one year after the completion of the Thakaraparambu flyover, the JICA work below it drags on. As per the versions of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), their work has  been stuck because the Road Fund Board has not given them permission to dig up roads at Sreevarahom and Kothalam junction on time.

However, the Road Fund Board does not trust the KWA because of the delays its contractor caused when they were allowed to dig up the Power House – Thakaramparambu stretch. The work had affected access to the city’s famed electronic shopping street at Thakaraparambu and affected the business of landmark textiles, tailoring and electronics shops on Power house road.

“Road Fund officials were handed over the road only until Thakaraparambu and road maintenance works have just started at powerhouse road,” KWA officials said. “Our business has been badly affected as vehicles have to pass through huge craters and during monsoons it becomes filled with water causing puddles and water can seep inside cars,” said staffers of a local beer and wine parlour.

The JICA work involves laying of pipelines from Parthas to Padmanabhapillai Park and it will pass through Kottalam Junction and enter Sreevaraham. “At Sreevarahom market the pipeline will be joined to another pipeline which has already been laid. This JICA pipeline, in the longer run, will be extended to Thiruvallam via the banks of NH bypass from Enchakkal,” a KWA official said.